National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund Report

          The board of NCPTF met on November 7-9 at Rolling Ridge Retreat grounds in West Virginia for a combined board meeting and planning retreat.  Sunday and Monday (until 3 p.m.) were spent with our usual board business but from Monday until mid-afternoon on Tuesday we participated in a long-range planning retreat.  Stan Dueck, facilitator, led us in a series of sessions which helped us look at where we are and where we would like to be in 3, 5, and 10 years.

            The retreat was very helpful in prioritizing what our objectives are for the immediate future and in assisting us in looking at the structural, staff and economic changes that we will face in the future. What we discovered was that our goals and objectives have not really changed but  the strategies that we pursue to achieve those goals (passage of PTF legislation) need to be refocused.  A resolution in the New York City Council asking them to support the PTF legislation is currently under consideration there.  It was introduced by Councilman Bill Perkins and has garnered much support from churches and individuals in the New York area.  This  resolution is a model that we feel can be replicated in many cities and states around the country . . . and will increase pressure on various Congressional representatives to support PTF legislation.  While no decisions have been made, there was a general consensus that we would begin to focus on regional hearings and city efforts to raise the pressure on Congress.  The next regional setting for hearings will be Rhode Island in the spring of 2005.  We have also begun to think about possibly hiring several regional coordinators to assist in doing the same thing in a number of other cities and states.  This seems to us to be a way to raise consciousness about the PTF not only in Congress but throughout the country as well.  It is hoped that the regional action along with continued lobbying of corresponding Senators and Representatives in Washington will prove to be a potent combination in our efforts to pass PTF legislation.

            NCPTF has experienced a slowing of revenue in the past months, not uncommon in an election year.  We continue to actively contact people who have made interest-free loans to NCPTF in the past and have asked them to consider forgiving the loans and making them a contribution to the Campaign.  Quite a number have donated these funds to NCPTF.   Nevertheless, we continue to compete for limited funds with a number of other worthwhile organizations.  We are looking to more granting sources as we begin to look at increasing staff so that we can adequately do the job that we are called to do.  Given the results of the election and the ongoing war in Iraq, we expect that support will pick up again at the end of 2004 and early 2005.

            Present staff include Marian Franz, Executive Director; Tim Godshall, Director of Outreach & Development; Daniel Longwing, Administrative Assistant; Jennifer Beale, Staff Assistant, and Kelsey Knight-King, Intern.  The staff has done a remarkable job in carrying out lobbying, education and development.  However, they need more help to be able to do the grass-roots organizing needed to move the legislation along.  The board is committed to helping to make this possible in the future.

            I continue to serve as the Chairperson of the Board and am grateful to Mennonite Church USA for the continued travel support which enables me to represent MC USA in this endeavor.  It is with your support and others that we are able to continue to witness to the rights of conscience and religious freedom that Mennonites have adhered to for many decades. 

Steve Ratzlaff